South Devon lifeboat crews will feature on the latest episode of Saving Lives At Sea tonight.

The series tells the story of the volunteer lifeboat crews and lifeguards of the RNLI who rescue thousands of people and save hundreds of lives around our coastline and on London’s River Thames every year. It takes viewers right into the heart of the action, capturing the unpredictable work of the charity in never-before-seen detail.

Saving Lives at Sea will feature RNLI crew members and lifeguards from the south west.

In the synopsis for tonight’s episode, which airs at 8pm on BBC Two, it says: “The Dart and Salcombe crews are astonished to be paged to the biggest shout of their lives.”

This could be a hint that tonight’s episode will feature the rescues of the humpback whale off Start Bay earlier this year.

Dart lifeboat spokesman John Fenton said: “The two rescues of the humpback whale off Blackpool Sands in which the Dart lifeboat was heavily involved will feature prominently in one of the episodes.”

Dart RNLI has had plenty to celebrate recently, including a £14,181 donation from Mitch Tonks and diners at his Rockfish seafood restaurant in Dartmouth. This sum alone will cover 40 per cent of the current year’s overall operational running costs of the lifeboat station.

Rockfish has been open in Dartmouth for six years and the building is next door to the more recently opened RNLI Visitor Centre on the South Embankment. Diners are asked if they would like to add £1 to their bill for the charity and Mitch Tonks then supplements this.

Saving Lives At Sea, the TV programme which follows the work of RNLI lifeboat crews, is back for a second series on BBC Two

The celebrity chef has specified that £2,000 of the donation will be specifically set aside to help develop a new website for the lifeboat station. By this November, the station will have been operational for 10 years and the website sets out the history of the station and details of every one of the 300-or-so lifeboat launches.